A stalwart of Sav Blanc in NZ. This wine is the tier above the Private Bin and sits around the $20 NZD price point (so think around $12 USD). With a beautiful sunny day outside (still quite fresh though!) I thought it was time to open some sav blanc for the patrons to enjoy. I must admit I am not a fan of Sav Blanc but what the hey.....

Served at room temperature (probably a little warm at 18 degrees Celisus)in ISO's.

The colour has developed from when I first tried this wine twelve months ago. While that wine displayed almost water like lightness this wine has taken on a lovely straw green colour, with quite a heavy viscosity. The nose also has opened up well with far more intensity and complexity than previously displayed. Initially powerful capsicum (bell pepper) notes dominate but hints of goosebury and passionfruit show through. As the wine got more air, a noticeable phenol character came through along with a softer peach/melba like note. The phenol note seemed to be intermingled with some mineral hints that created a layered effect to the nose. Very unusual and intriguing. Forward acids and high alcohol seemed to dominate the palate with my mouth zinging for several moments after drinking. Initial lemon flavours hit the front of the palate and then a supporting hint of kiwi and persimon showed through particularly in the aftertaste. This wine is still quite intense and displaying great fruit and acid concentration. The acids are lush rather than drying and although the alcohol makes the wine very warm the two flavourols seem to intermingle creating a lovely invigorating palate expirience. Overall a good to excellent wine. 90 points.

And I stand by what I said this time last year. That increased tartaric acids in the 2002 vintage meant that the true complexity and flavours of the 2002 sav blancs would take about a year to come through. This wine last year only warranted a 86 from me and showed more simple one dimensional flavours of kiwi and passion fruit IMO.